Rauf & Faik (Рауф и Фаик) are a Russian pop duet of Azerbaijani origins, formed by twin brothers Rauf and Faik Mirzaev (Russian: Рауф и Фаик Мирзаевы; born July 7, 1999, Izhevsk, Russia).[1] Their debut song is "вечера". They are best known for their Russian language No. 1 single "Childhood" (Russian: Детство), released in 2018. They release music sung in both Russian and English. They usually associate themselves with R&B and emo-rap grooves laced with aching keys. [2]
Biography
The brothers are ethnically Azerbaijani. According to the brothers, they have always had a fascination with music, as they inherited musical talent from their maternal grandfather, who they knew as an opera singer and a director at an opera house in Baku.[3] They began to study music at the age of 4; their neighbour saw that they were talented and offered to take them to a music-focused college, where they played the piano until 8 years old, where they transitioned to vocals.[4] They later sung with the House of Children's Creativity (Russian: Доме детского творчества) and music studio Above the Rainbow (Russian: Выше радуги).[5] According to the channel "Music First" (Russian: Музыки первого) their vocal range is 4 1/2 octaves.[1]
They grew up listening to 90s Soul, R&B, and Pop and music, citing Brian McKnight and Michael Jackson.[4] More recently, they have commented on receiving inspiration from western artists such as XXXTentacion, who they consider very inspiring, and to a lesser degree, Post Malone;[4] though their profile on Music First also lists Sam Smith.[1]
XXXTentacion, according to Faik, means a lot to them and very inspiring. At the beginning of ”Detstvo” music video, a Tupac Shakur reference is seen.
Before focusing entirely on music (2014-2018), they worked as singers in a cafe. They are both Muslims. Rauf & Faik released the single "Ramadan" in 2021.
Music
Their first music video — released for the song "Evenings" (Russian: Вечера) — amassed several hundred thousand views, and thousands of likes,[6] resulting in offers to sing at multiple venues.[1][5] A later music video for the song "I Love You" (Russian: Я люблю тебя), became the 28th most popular song of 2018 on the Russian social networking site VKontakte.[7]
Their debut album, also titled "Ya Lyublyu Tebya”, was released later in September, 2018. According to the brothers, they invested only 1,500 Rubles (approx. $25) into advertising the album. Despite little inherent publicity, the song "Childhood" (Russian: Детство) reached number one on VKontakte.[4]
"Pain & Memories", their second studio album, released on March 15, 2019, and quickly reached 8th place on Apple Music.[8]
Since beginning their professional music career, the brothers have toured in over 20 Russian cities, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Germany.[1][5]
